Marlborough runner finds inspiration in 'Boston Strong'

Marlborough’s Gary Cattarin didn’t see the bombs go off. He had finished the race a while earlier – a personal best record - and was relaxing at a post-Marathon party with the same group of runners he celebrates with after every Boston Marathon – the Squannacook River Runners, based in Groton.

Marlborough’s Gary Cattarin didn’t see the bombs go off. He had finished the race a while earlier – a personal best record - and was relaxing at a post-Marathon party with the same group of runners he celebrates with after every Boston Marathon – the Squannacook River Runners, based in Groton.

From the 38th floor of the Marriott Place Copley Hotel, Cattarin and his fellow runners heard and felt the explosions and knew something was wrong when they saw people running away from the finish line.

In an interview a few days later, Cattarin said the bombings, which he called senseless, ripped "the fabric of who we are."

In the 100 days since, Cattarin said his thinking hasn’t changed much.

Temporarily sidelined from running with an injury, Cattarin said that after the Marathon, he ran in a fundraising run for the One Fund and participated in a brief memorial ceremony at Groton Town Meeting.

Reflecting on the weeks following the race, Cattarin said recently while he usually wants to wear out a jacket or shirt indicating that he participated in a marathon, he felt less comfortable doing so in the days immediately after the Boston Marathon bombings.

"I didn’t really want to be outwardly engaging it because it felt like it was too raw at the time," he said. Now, he said he is perfectly comfortable wearing his gear from the race and said he’s finding himself feeling a twinge of gratitude when he sees someone wearing a Boston Strong t-shirt.

"When I see people wearing Boston Strong shirts," he said, "I do feel some thanks. And sometimes I say something.

"You know, thanks for coming together," he said. "We were thrust into something that’s just ludicrously larger than ourselves."